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David Lynch: geniusy, if not a genius

Like many media-saturated cinephiles my age, I grew up loving Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, the often-overlooked Elephant Man and the rest of David Lynch's bizarre canon. Lately, though, he's been making less sense than ever -- not always a prerequisite for good filmmaking, making sense, but it helps. To wit: last week, I was lucky enough to get into AFI Fest's gala screening of his new, three-hour, five-years-in-the-making digital video epic, Inland Empire. I went in thinking Lynch was a genius, and three hours of shots of Laura Dern looking confused in dark hallways later, left scratching my head and wondering if it were really true.

"David Lynch RIGHT NOW is sitting on the corner of Hollywood and La Brea with a cow on a leash and a picture of Laura Dern that says For Your Consideration. He also has a sign that says "without cows there would be no cheese in the Inland Empire."

A few curious hipsters with a video camera happened upon the scene, and the next day, this hilarious video (complete with lots of confused profanity) was posted, which entirely changed my mind about the Lynch genius question. He may not be a genius -- but he's most definitely geniusy. (For more on the semantics of that, check out our Genius Instruction Manual.)

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Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)